Professional journalism means nothing to Sahara Reporters, Bukola Saraki Press statement

This is a press statement from the office of Senate president, Bukola Saraki. Read below:

On Thursday, August 6th, 2015, SaharaReporters published a totally fabricated report entitled: “Nigeria’s Senate President Saraki Lied In His Official Election Forms” on its website.

In that dubious and utterly false report, SR alleged that the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, is not a Nigerian citizen. The article went further, based solely on suppositions to infer that Dr. Saraki intentionally avoided question 10 on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) form for candidates contesting National Assembly elections and by so doing must have sworn to an oath of allegiance to another country, such as United Kingdom, the report concluded.

The article also suggested that the Senate President avoided stating his place of birth on the INEC form, and that he is intentionally concealing his UK citizenship to avoid being disqualified in any way from political office.

One is not unminful of the obvious fact that freedom of expression may be absolutely basic human right, but it is pertinent  to state that it is not without limits. This obvious fact has brought to bear,  what is the essence of journalism which is meant to educate, orientate and bring out the truth to ensure  justice,  equity and fairness  in every human endeavor. Unfortunately,  it seems the tenets of professional journalism means nothing to Sahara Reporters.

As it stands, a detailed perusal of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, clearly indicates that the point Sahara Reporters is attempting to raise is moot – especially with regards to holding UK citizenship. The ready question at hand to ask is; why Sahara Reporter has intentionally remained silent and avoided to look into the constitutional Provisions of right to hold dual citizenship, especially where the party in question holds Nigerian citizenship by birth. The second relevant question is, if in fact, the purpose of such a publication was for public interest, has Sahara  Reporters carried out diligent investigation on the authenticity of its report before publication?  If the answers to the above questions are in the negative, then the rationale behind the report is for obvious reasons.

For the avoidance of doubt and for record purposes, Section 25(1)(c) of the Nigerian Constitution discredit Sahara Reporters’ argument that Dr. Saraki is ineligible for public office. The section clearly stipulates that “every person born outside Nigeria either of whose parents is a citizen of Nigeria” are considered “citizens of Nigeria by birth.” What this means is that even if the Senate President were born in the UK, he will qualify as a citizen of Nigeria by birth under S.25(1c) – citizen by birth through parentage.

Also, there has always been a flawed misconception on the issue of dual citizenship vis-a-vis a holder of public office in Nigeria. S.28 of the 1999 Constitution (as (amended) deals with this wherein it highlights the fact that only those who are Nigerians by registration or naturalization shall forfeit their citizenship if they acquire the citizenship of another country. It is important to state at this juncture that the requirement to forfeit Nigerian nationality/citizenship upon acquisition of the nationality/citizenship of another country, does not apply to persons who are Nigerians by birth within the definition of Section 25 of the Constitution. This section also acknowledges and protects the right to hold citizenship by birth of another country – as citizenship by birth is an inalienable right under the Constitution.